My New Teacher is a Ghost
by HarryPotterfanatic1111
Summary: Harry was having a normal life at Hogwarts with Ron Weasley until a tragic incident involving Draco and Snape interfered with their lives. How long can the boys keep it secret? Rating might go up in later chapters.
1. The event that started it all

_"Seriously, Harry. I don't think that Sirius Black is your godfather," Ron was saying to his friend Harry as they walked through a snow-filled area with some trees in it. "It's just that everyone knows he's a criminal convicted of killing 13 people with a single curse."_

_"Ron, Lupin told me he WAS my godfather," Harry contradicted. "And now, with you telling me what everyone thinks of him, I don't know who to believe. All I know is that __Professor Lupin told me that he was a friend of my dad and him, and that..."_

_Ron raised one of his eyebrows. "And what?"_

_Harry proceeded to slightly tug at his red and yellow scarf. "I don't know. It's just so confusing to me. Ever since my parents died, I thought that my only surviving relatives were my..." _

_Suddenly, a snowball flew past __Harry, missing his face by inches. Ron made an inaudible but surprised gasp and turned to see who threw the snowball. Behind them were Slytherin students; Draco Malfoy and his pals, Goyle and Crabbe, who __all three were laughing at the two companions despite their missing the target. Harry also turned his head to Ron's direction and made a scowl at the sight of them._

_"What do you want, Malfoy?" Harry asked with an annoyed tone._

_"You should've seen the look on your face, Potter," Draco tried to stifle his laughter inside of him. "If I measured a bit more accurately, it would've hit you in the back of your head!" Harry exchanged glances __with Ron then looked back at Draco before walking on, ignoring them as the bullies went on laughing._

_"What a bunch of slimy creeps," Harry muttered to Ron once they were out of hearing-range. _

_Ron forced a smile at his long-time friend. "Hey, at least they deserved SOME punishment, Harry. Do even you remember the time Snape caught him twice?"_

_"For what?"_

_"The first time, Draco used the "M-word" on both of us, including Hermione. That cost him 100 points from Slytherin. The second time, Snape heard him yelling a threat at us about Lord "You-Know-Who" coming to get us, except Malfoy used the real name instead. That earned him a deduction of 1,000 points from Slytherin and two weeks worth of detention, including on the day the Quidditch tournament arrived at the open stadium. Man, Draco was their best player on the Slytherin team, Harry. It was a good thing that our house won the match; otherwise we would be a wee bit farther than earning the House Cup at the banquet a week ago."_

_"I know that, Ron," Harry replied, his bad mood now brightened by his friend's memory, "as if the great Malfoy didn't have the brains and the effort to keep his mouth shut!"_

_Ron and Harry both started laughing together as they continued trudging through the snow. Suddenly, Harry stopped walking and looked around. Ron, confused of what's going on, stopped walking too._

_"What's happening, Harry? Is Professor Snape looking for us?" Ron asked his friend with concern._

_Harry shook his head. "No, but I know that we have to be at Hogwarts in a few minutes. Lunch is about to end."_

_"What made you think that?"_

_Harry just shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe I had a sixth sense." This made Ron silent for a few minutes in thought before having an idea. _

_"Hey, you wanna use a shortcut to Hogwarts?" Ron asked Harry._

_Harry asked, "Why use a shortcut? I thought we could use our broomsticks."_

_This time, Ron was the one who shook his head. "I'm afraid we left them in our bedrooms at Gryffindor. And we can't use Apparate because we're not of age, either, Harry." _

_Harry nodded silently before letting Ron take the lead. Soon enough, the two were on their way in a forest with snow-covered trees that wouldn't grow any leaves until spring. Harry looked around his surroundings as they walked through the snow, lost in thought. He had been living in Hogwarts from the age of 11, except on holidays and vacations; now he's in his fifth year there with Ron and Hermione. It didn't really make a difference that he was a Muggle like a lot of students at Hogwarts, but Draco Malfoy made it seem like Purebloods were absolutely superior to others of totally different races. And what about Snape? His attitude towards Harry made it seem that he hated his Muggle birth. Did it matter? No, Harry didn't think so, because the Headmaster told him the fact that Snape himself was a Half-Blood, being the only son of a __Muggle and a Pureblood wizard._

_"Here, Harry!" Ron shouted to Harry several minutes later, interrupting his thoughts and bringing him back to reality. "Here is the shortcut!"_

_Harry's green eyes darted around to look for what Ron found and when they did see it, they were widened with shock and disbelief. Ron smiled with delight and gestured toward a fairly large frozen lake surrounded __with a border of grass covered with snow._

_"Uh..., this is your..., shortcut?" Harry asked with a quivering voice._

_"Yup. I always go this way whenever I needed to go back to Hogwarts. It's not far from there, but it'll do. Wanna come?"_

_Harry scratched through his messy black hair as he looked at his friend's "shortcut." Professor McGonagall always told him and his friends to stay clear of the lake because there were some students who__drowned trying to use it as a shortcut to get back to Hogwarts. Now Harry had faced a desicion: He'd either cross the frozen lake with Ron, and they'll go back to Hogwarts a lot quicker, or tell Ron to go the other __way because of the risks they would take with crossing the lake. Harry was still pondering on these recent thoughts when he heard a voice that sounded very familiar to him._

_"Blimey, Harry!"_

_Harry jumped and turned back to see Draco and his two pals running after them. "What now, Draco?" he shouted at them, starting to lose his temper._

_"Never thought you'd be here using this path that Professor McGonagall told you not to go for," Draco said with a sneer, though he was panting from running all this way. "But I s'pose you were going to cross __it, anyway... unless you're too chicken to do it!"_

_That did it. Harry rushed over to the Slytherin student and hit him in the face, causing him to topple over and fall on the snow. Goyle and Crabbe rushed over to Draco and stood between him and Harry to prevent __Harry from hurting him more._

_"I am not a chicken, Malfoy!" Harry yelled at Draco despite the barrier blocking him off. "If I had my wand on hand, I'll--"_

_"Then prove that you're not a chicken if you're going to cross the lake!" Draco cut in as he yelled at the Gryffindor with pain. "We all know that we're already late for Potions, so we have to hurry back!"_

_Ron rushed over to Harry and tugged onto his coat sleeve. "Don't listen to that creep, Harry," he said quietly. "I'd rather face Professor Snape than hear that Malfoy insult you." That seemed to lift Harry's spirits a little bit. But __unfortunately, Draco Malfoy heard what Ron __said to his friend and pushed his two friends aside as he walked briskly over to the two Gryffindors._

_"I. AM. NOT. A. CREEP!" Draco yelled as he grabbed Ron from the back of his winter coat. "If you're so bent on protecting that Potter boy from me, then I dare you to cross that lake..., BY YOURSELF!!"_

_After saying this, Draco then let go of Ron, still feeling furious that Ron insulted him by calling him a "creep". Harry looked back at him with a scowl, then softened with pity as he turned to Ron._

_"Don't worry about it, Ron. I'll catch up with you on the other side," Harry said with an exhausted smile. Ron nodded in response, then turned to walk to the lake. As his friend and his enemies waited for him to make the next move, Ron looked down at the lake's surface to see a reflection of himself. He guessed that the surface was thick enough to let him walk over it, but he also remembered Professor McGonagall telling him __and Harry not to go there. Ron shook his head, trying to shake the memory off his mind. Then, with a few steps forward, he soon found himself on the lake._

_When Ron saw that everything had been silenced, he looked down and saw with an uneasy feeling that he was actually on the lake's frozen and slippery surface, his legs slightly shaking as they struggled to keep him from slipping. He made a gulping noise in an attempt to quell his fear; his usually goofy heart of gold thumping with rapid, anxious beats inside his chest that can be felt below its surface, and it didn't stop even when Ron started walking across the slippery ice._

_"You can do it, Weasley! You'll show that Malfoy, yet!" Ron can hear Harry shout with encouragement as he struggled to walk on the lake's slippery and icy surface, causing his heart to ease. But then, following Harry's praise was Draco's __taunting, Ron loathed very much because almost every day he teased him nonstop about his family being blood traitors and having a status of near-poverty, instead of the usual wealth that would come if you're a Pureblood._

_"Come on, Ron! Your poor family will see what a brave boy they have when you make it over!" Draco hooted at Ron, making the Gryffindor look at him and frown. Ron then turned back to the direction and continued __walking over the lake, step by step, while letting in Harry's shouts of true encouragement and shutting out Draco's insults. He was just about halfway from making it when he heard someone else shout at him._

_"RONALD BILIUS WEASLEY! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"_

_Ron jumped and slipped on the ice, landing on the seat of his pants with a _thump_. Harry and Draco noticed what happened and looked to see Severus Snape coming towards them in a hurried walk with a shocked and angry expression on his face. Draco now felt too surprised at the presence of their Potions teacher and was rushing to find the right words to say to him._

_"You said that Professor Snape wasn't looking for us, Harry!" Ron yelled with his head facing Harry, sensing that his best friend from their first Hogwarts year had lied to him as he struggled to get up._

_"I thought he wasn't, Ron!" Harry yelled back to his long-time friend just at the second when Snape grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him vigorously, his eyes burning with anger while Harry turned to look at him out of fear._

_"What were you two thinking about going this way back to Hogwarts, Harry James Potter?! I almost spent my entire class time looking for both of you," Snape said furiously at the teenage Gryffindor with one of his hands pointing to Ron, "and your clueless friend over there doesn't even realize that he's not supposed to be there in the first place when Minerva told you two not to go through here!"_

_"B-But... I...," Harry stammered as he stared at Snape, his voice stuttering as his brain tried to find the words he was intending to say, but didn't __make through because he was too full of surprise to speak to his most hated teacher. But b__efore he could explain any more, Snape threw him aside and walked over to Draco, who quickly hid behind Goyle and Crabbe._

_"And you! Draco Malfoy! Your father told me that he expected the best from you, but your being out-of-bounds from Hogwarts and cutting Potions class is going to spell trouble for your House! Do you expect to __keep your wrongdoings secret from me and your dad, along with the rest of the teachers and Headmaster Dumbledore?!" _

_"Professor Snape, I was looking... for Harry and Ron...," Draco struggled to maintain his control over his emotions._

_"That was a lie!" Harry shouted at Draco so suddenly that both he and Snape turned their heads to look at him. "Me and Ron were talking to each other when that Malfoy dropped in on us by-" Suddenly, they __heard a loud cracking sound coming from the lake where Ron was standing. Harry turned to see Ron surrounded by several cracks, both small and large. Ron looked around him and saw what Harry saw happening __and looked back at him with a look of fear and pleading on his face._

_"RON!!" Harry cried over the cracking noises echoing throughout the sky as he started to rush over to Ron. Draco got up from his hiding place and ran with Snape to help Harry rescue his friend._

_"Guys, I think you'd better hurry because - wwhoooOOAAaa!!" Ron shouted to Harry and Draco before stumbling when the spot on the lake where he was standing gave way, and Ron fell into the space that was __left before grabbing onto a ledge of the ice. Harry lunged onto the ice and slid upon landing in front of Ron, who was struggling to keep himself from sinking into the cold water below him.__"Hurry! Get me out!" Ron was pleading to Harry as he grabbed his hands before being just under the water's surface. Harry nodded and looked at Draco who grabbed onto his __sneakers and pulled while Snape grabbed him and pulled harder._

_"Pull Ron out," Harry yelled over Ron's cries for help, "Pull him out, now! Hurry!" But their efforts proved futile as the hole Ron was in widened and let out little chunks of frozen ice, and Harry noticed that Ron was __about to go underneath. "Professor Snape! Do something to get Ron out of there!" Snape then let go of Draco and rushed to Harry and Ron near the hole. As Draco pulled on Harry's sneakers, he wondered what Snape was going to do with Ron just to sink into the water and Harry helping him hold on._

_"Snape... get me... out...," Ron was saying to the professor but gurgling and gasping noises coming from his mouth muffled his speech as he struggled to get out of the __water that was pulling him down. Then, out of __the blue, he felt Snape use the effort to lift him out of the hole that held him in and set him on a place where the ice hadn't cracked. Harry got up and helped Ron stand as he stood up on the ice with Draco when they __heard more cracking noises as more of the ice broke off in middle-sized chunks. Snape got up quickly and looked at the three boys with a sense that they're not going to survive the ordeal if they stayed any __longer._

_"Harry, go with Ron and Draco over to where Goyle and Crabbe are waiting," Snape said to Harry, who was holding a shivering Ronald Weasley wrapped in Draco's winter coat. Both Draco and Harry nodded and turned to walk to the snowy grass where Draco's friends anxiously waited. Suddenly, just about when Snape was going to catch up with them, he fell in the freezing water after the icy surface gave way under his weight. Draco heard what was going on and turned to see one of Snape's hands sticking out as he struggled to get out with little success._

_"PROFESSOR!!" Draco cried out before turning to a confused Harry. _

_"What happened?" Harry asked him with concern._

_"Harry, stay here with Ron and the others," Draco replied in a panicky way. "Snape had gone down!" He turned and ran back to the lake, hoping it's not too late to save him. When he got there, Snape reached out a hand and grabbed onto his gray sleeveless shirt, with a look that truly showed the feelings of fear and a feeling that he was trapped like a helpless animal. Draco grabbed onto his arm and pulled in an effort to get him out of the water._

_"Don't worry, Professor Snape. I'll have you out in no time," Draco's voice strained as he continued to pull, but it was no use. It was impossible that only Draco was pulling all his might to pull an adult like Severus __Snape out of the water by himself while his friends were fearing for the worst to happen. And secondly, Snape's heavy black robes were pulling him down against the opposite direction that Draco Malfoy was pulling him in._

_"Don't, Malfoy. Go with Ron and Harry," Snape struggled to speak as some of the icy water went down his throat. "Go to them, now!"_

_"No, Professor! You'll die if I let go of you!" Draco shouted at him as he strained to keep his balance on the slippery ice. "I can't go to them at this moment! I have to get you out!"_

_"Malfoy, let go of me now!" Snape's voice was to a whisper, but barely. "Let go..." Before he knew what he was doing, Draco's grip on Snape slackened and his arm slipped through his two warm hands; Snape's __black eyes closed shut as he went down into the dark depths of the frozen lake just at the minute Draco regained his thoughts and found that Snape was no longer there._

_"Snape? Snape?! Professor Snape?!" Draco was calling out the Potions teacher's name as he looked around for him. He suddenly remembered what he was doing during the past few minutes and then looked down __into the water, his eyes widening with horror and guilt at realizing about what he had done. Harry looked at Draco for a silent moment, then left Ron with Goyle and Crabbe to go run over to the Slytherin. When he __got there, he saw that Draco was sobbing with grief and remorse as he shouted out Snape's name in the hopes of bringing him back._

_"Professor?! PROFESSOR!! YOU CAN'T GO!!" Harry can hear Draco yell at the top of his lungs through his tears. "PROFESSOR SNAPE!! YOU CAN'T GO!! PROFESSOR!!" Harry, who suddenly felt __sorry for him, put his hand on his left shoulder as the person who was once his enemy broke down with the fact that their teacher had drowned in the lake in place of Ronald Weasley, and that he wouldn't come back __to exist on the Hogwarts grounds as the only Potions teacher._

_Not ever._


	2. Confusion and chaos

It was several months after Snape's death on Christmas Eve. Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts, suddenly began to notice that Snape had not returned from his search for Harry, Ron, and Draco and his friends; though they had returned to the school by the early evening when the sun was beginning to set in the west. By the time the five boys returned, Ron Weasley, Harry's longtime friend, had come down with pneumonia after being in contact with cold water for a period of time and had to spend a few weeks in the Hospital Wing until he had fully recovered from his sickness. After that, Dumbledore had begun issuing search parties in hopes that they'll find the most feared Potions Master and bring him back to Hogwarts, but they kept reporting to him that Snape was nowhere to be found, even when much later they used more and more magical creatures with a stronger sense of smell to find Snape's whereabouts.

Eventually, Dumbledore had announced to all of the students that Snape was gone and introduced a substitute Potions teacher to replace Snape until he can be found. Rumors soon began to spread like wildfire. Some students said that Snape grew tired of teaching and retired, others that he had been sacked by Dumbledore himself and sent to exile, or he ran away from Hogwarts one night and was never heard of ever since.

Harry Potter sighed and slumped into a nearby chair as he pondered about this during the last few weeks. Everywhere he went, there was rumors about Snape sprouting up faster that Professor Sprout's magic plants in the green house outside on Hogwarts' grounds, and he was tired of hearing them wherever he went! Even Ron and Hermione had been discussing this common topic during classes, breakfast, and lunch, and Harry could tell that Ron was somewhat more than happy that the old "bat" of the Slytherin Dungeons was not being considered of anymore.

However, Hermione had different views: She highly respected him because of his intelligence in a field that would be labeled as "impossible" and was shown as proof when her hand was raised first at a question asked. And unlike Ron, she didn't believe that Snape was "gone" as many students put it and always told openly that he would be back if he ever had the chance to.

"Harry?"

Harry's green eyes jerked opened and turned to the one person who he had made friends with at King's Cross, "What is it, Ron?"

Ron sighed and asked, "Do you really believe my logic about Professor Snape? I mean, Hermione's always defending him like he had done nothing wrong to us or our friends, but it's like defending You-Know-Who when he did something evil just to cover up his butt. Snape's always been intimidating to Neville and he's blaming you over every small issue that comes to mind; he even insulted your dad at every chance that comes up."

Harry sighed wearily. "Do you think I'd agree with everyone else when Snape had died to save your life several months ago, Ron? I know he did that to me just because I bear a resemblance of my dad and that he was a complete prat to Snape when they were younger, but it doesn't mean he's evil. So do you think I'd side with you because you were supposed to be dead if he hadn't intervened?"

"But mate, he was doing that to you all these years ever since we came here! Do you even think you would be resentful towards him by now?"

"What makes you think that?"

"Well..., he blames you for your "unacceptable" behavior; he favors Draco over all of the students he had during classes; he subtracts points from our House for every wrong you didn't even try to do; he hates you because you look like your dead father... Harry, I swear by Merlin's wit that you were just claiming that Prof. Snape saved my life several months before just to cover up everything he did to you, just like Hermione did to us whenever we complained about him afterwards."

Unable to take it anymore, Harry stood up so abruptly from his chair that it startled Ron into silence. He would've retorted at Ron for being indifferent but it would make things worse, so he tiredly turned around to leave for the dormitory that wasn't far away from the Gryiffindor Common Room. But before he left, Harry turned to face his friend with a glare so cold that it sent chills down Ron's spine.

"I've been hearing so many rumors related to Snape's "disappearance" that I don't think I actually believe you, Ron. You can banter about how Snape was mean to me and you and Hermione, but it all doesn't measure up to what he did for you several months before. If he hadn't saved you, you wouldn't even be here," Harry said coldly, turning away from his best friend. He was going to take another step when he turned to look at Ron again and said one last thing.

"And personally, I don't think you have any gratitude for him, either."

Ron was about to object when he suddenly found himself unable to say the words that were begging to be let out. But by the time he gathered up the strength to speak again, Harry Potter, his best friend from year one, was gone.

--

"I don't get it, 'Mione," Ron said later that day with a mouthful of bacon and eggs. "Everytime I try to talk to Harry he would either do the cold shoulder, the silent treatment, or some cold remark that comes to mind. Believe me, it's not like he's all indifferent and all but it's like I don't know him as a friend anymore."

Hermione nodded as she flipped a page of her book. "What changes did you notice about Harry's behavior?"

"Cold glares, withdrawal, mood swings, sleeps late, etc., etc. But you know, 'Mione, he's always giving me the impression that he's that Malfoy kid; always making a retort and doesn't care about anyone but-"

"Ron, if you're considering about changing the subject, why not look at Draco now?" Hermione cut in, pointing at a boy with blonde hair sitting with students from the House of Slytherin and making sobbing noises that almost rivaled Moaning Myrtle. Ron was surprised at the sight of who was now Draco. He always thought of him as a wizard with big headed arrogance and a unpleasently rich family, but now it seemed like he was unfortunately(or tragically) changed for the worst that could ever happen, and Ron knew that it was really tragic than getting the news that his father was escorted to Azkaban for his unnoticed crimes.

"So? What about him?" Ron questioned Hermione, his tone unchanged but showing a faint trace of pity.

"I don't know why, but he's been acting like that ever since he got here several months ago." Hermione flipped another page before continuing, "He's not what he used to be anymore, and I hardly ever see him between classes or any time of the day. But this turned out to be really weird when I saw you, Harry, and Draco get here after you three had been gone for several hours: Draco looked like an emotional wreck with a broken ego and has the behavior of an anti-social, Harry's slight more brash and a wee bit aloof and of a recluse, and you..."

"What?"

"...You're just a clumsy halfwit who doesn't change his silly behavior in the classroom and doesn't study for exams."

Ron snorted at Hermione's sarcasm in mock disgust. "Please, your study habits make it seem like 'all work and no play'. At least try to have some fun once in a while. It's kind of boring if you don't have that experience in your life."

"And I'll be in detention with those Weasley clowns in Filch's office. Ron, you know very well that I don't go looking for trouble while getting involved with such nonsense."

"You remind me both of Prof. McGonagall and Prof. Snape," Ron muttered under his breath as he continued eating his lunch.

"Hey guys!"

Ron jumped out of his seat while letting out a sound that sounded like a girlish shriek, making the table section shake and spilling food on the polished oak wood. Everyone turned to look for the source of the shriek and looked down to see Ron with half of his body on the tiled floor and the other half on the table bench.

"Aw thanks so much for that, you lot," Ron winced - or groaned - with pain as he tried to get himself up when he heard the students starting to howl with laughter. Soon a boy with blackish-brown skin and long dreadlocks stepped and leaned over to take a look at Ron, and then came two boys with freckled indentical faces looked at him afterwards.

"Sorry about that, mate," the brown boy said with a sheepish grin. He then reached over to grab hold of Ron's arms and help him up on his feet. Ron threw them an insulted glare and dusted off some pieces that might have fallen on him.

"We got here because we wanted to tell you something...," one of the freckled boys spoke up despite the loudness of the laughter, "...and it's really urgent."

Ron, not in the mood to speak at this moment, suddenly started to run for the exit and entrance of the Great Hall, with the three boys following him. Hermione, who was busy wiping the food from her book, became curious about Ron's sudden departure and soon stood up from her place to leave, but not before she put a silencing spell on the whole Great Hal to restore the quietness as it had earlier.

Meanwhile, Ron was running down a corridor with his brothers and friend chock-full of portraits of people complaining and scolding about Ron's "unruly" behavior but they never got a response from the boys. Ron wasn't so sure about what they had to say to him after they got out of detention with Filch, but if it was so important, he might as well hear it from them but he didn't want to hear any junk that his peers got from eavesdropping on the teachers or the students. When Ron turned a corner, he thought he heard "STOP!" from behind and skidded to a stop with the help of his sneakers and the surface of the floor; the three boys catching up to him with a series of heavy panting and a slight break of sweat.

"I don't know how you could run so fast, mate," the other freckled boy panted with his hands on his knees. "Either you drank some potion that made you speed up, or-"

"George!" His twin brother hissed with a glare.

"Sorry Fred," George mumbled.

"Guys, I don't know what is it you wanted to tell me but it better be important. I don't want to-" Ron was saying to his classmates when he caught himself almost babbling. George let out a deep breath and stood up straight at his full Weasley height, and Ron had to look up, up just to match his serious gaze.

"Ron mate, this isn't something we got for eavesdropping on the staff," he told his younger brother. "This is something we wanted to tell you right now."

"What? What is it?" Ron was sputtering out words as if he was in a stutter - a kind of stutter that most people use when they were overly frightened or worried. "What is it, George?"

George's twin brother also stood up, concerned. "It's about your friend..."

"Hermione? Neville?"

"No. It's Harry."

Ron was furious at the subject of his best "friend". "Why bring him up now?! He was being aloof to me all these months and never cared about a thing and-"

"Ron!" Fred blurted out, slapping his younger brother and started shaking him vigorously, much to the surprisement of his peers. "Pull yourself together and stop the chatter! I know Harry is like that, but it is not his fault! It's not like he's being a complete prat but he still has a chance to recover from whatever he's gone through!"

"Well what is it about him?!" Ron struggled against Fred's grip.

Fred's head whipped around to face the brown boy. "What are you waiting for, Lee?! Tell him!" he said brashly.

Lee cleared his throat with a slight cough. "Well about Harry, the last time I saw him he was a little..., shaken up."

Ron still struggled with Fred but did it with less effort. "What's the point about that?" he asked.

"He kept talking about some scary ghost he saw somewhere in one of the main halls."

George scoffed at this with the flick of his wrist. "Puleeeeeease, Lee Jordan. It could've been one of the House ghosts or just Peeves. Everyone's used to them, so Harry should be okay with them."

"NO NO NO NO! It's not what Harry saw! He said it was a person with black robes, and hair! And he said he saw it one of the main halls and it frightened him very much!

Fred suddenly let go of Ron and turned to his friend, leaving Ron staggering slightly towards a large window on the other side. "Who was that ghost? Who was it? If I ever crossed paths with him I'd beat him for terrorizing my friend until he'll be begging for mercy!

Everyone looked at Fred as if he was being extreme. "What? Harry Potter is our friend, so why not do it?"

"That's a little too much, Fred," whispered George with the nudge of his elbow.

"Who's that ghost?" Ron finally spoke up from behind. "We'd all like to know who he is if he's not one of the familiar ghosts of Hogwarts." Lee sighed exasperatingly with the drooping of his shoulders.

"The ghost Harry saw..., he said it was...,"

"What?! Tell us?!" It took a minute for Lee Jordan to relax from the pressure and gather up the strength to talk again but when he did, it was with a somber tone.

"Professor Snape."


	3. Discussions and Arguments

Chapter 3

It didn't take long for Hermione to find out what Ron and the others were up to once she got the information from fellow Gryffindor Dean Thomas, who seemed to be passing by after serving detention with a teacher last class. But when Hermione found them, she overheard them talking about Harry seeing Snape and realized that for once they weren't plotting to set up a magical prank for a random Slytherin student. And so she decided to ask them after several minutes of begging, coaxing, and threatening.

"Did Harry really - no, actually - "see" Professor Snape?" Hermione asked the Weasley boys and Lee Jordan in the Common Room with a skeptical look. The boys looked at each other after an awkward silence and nodded.

"Yes, he did," said Lee quietly, his fingers twiddling in nervousness. "Harry said so himself the last time I visited him."

"Is that even true? Or you're just lying to me?"

Lee briefly gave her a sharp look. "Of course it's true. What do you think we are, dunderheads?

Hermione didn't quite buy his claim but to their relief, she asked instead, "Would he mind if I go ask him?"

Ron grumbled, "Sure. The old mate likes you better, anyway," which was loud enough to earn him several glares and an elbow from Fred. However Hermione saw the positive side of Ron's sarcasm and tried not to grin in front of her friends as she left for the dormintory upstairs. As soon as Hermione was out of hearing range, everyone started talking at once.

"Ron how could you say that?" George asked with disdain.

"It's not Harry's own fault he's that way with everyone," Fred added.

"And so _he _claims to...," grumbled Ron with his arms crossed. Lee reached over and slapped him in his face.

"Ron, get a grip of yourself! Geez, you and Harry are like how Harry and Draco acted together last year! Ron, all we're saying is that Harry might be down in the dumps because of how _you_ acted with your friend the past several months. Don't you think you should come in terms with each other and forget about it?" Ron was a bit angered by his classmate's blaming.

"Don't start pointing fingers at me like it was _my_ fault, you guys," Ron said in defense. "And it's not my fault he's lecturing me about Snape saving-" Suddenly Ron stopped talking at the word _saving_ and covered his mouth with one hand. His twin brothers and friend started to look at him with puzzlement.

Fred was the first to ask. "What are you talking about, mate? Snape saved _who_?"

"Uh..., I mean...," Ron began to stutter. The rest were about to ask when Hermione arrived from the dormintory, her face serious.

"Guys, are you lying to me about Harry's viewing of Snape or is it actually_ true_ that he did see him?" The boys then turned to look at Hermione who was glaring daggers at them and had her hands on her hips. "I don't actually know if it's possible for Harry to have the chance because Merlin knows Snape had been gone from Hogwarts for how long, but are any of you telling the truth?"

George slowly stood up. "Of course we are, 'Mione. What makes you think we are lying?" He asked.

Hermione's glare became sharper. "_Boys_? Are you all lying to me? Just tell me the truth and we'll just forget about it."

"But he did see Snape!" George protested. "Lee here told us so eariler in one of the hallways earlier during lunch!" This was accompanied by a nod from Lee Jordan to make it look like it all happened. Ron, who was listening to the whole conversation, desperately wished he wasn't here witnessing this.

"Ahem you guys..., I think I'll ask Harry myself if all you don't mind about it...," he cleared his throat, covering the Common Room with temporary silence.

"Why are you going to do it if the both of you are at bad terms with each other?" Hermione asked, her attention diverted from the current subject. Ron got up from the arm chair and started to leave for the stairs nearby.

Ron tried not to look at his friends as he ascended. "I think it's better if I go and tell you later when I get back." Before any of them can reply, Ron quickly went up the stairs to avoid any more talk. He knew he and Harry actually _were_ at each other's throats every time they tried to talk, but suddenly he felt bad for him and about his own behavior toward his friend. It was then Ron realized that Harry was _actually_ telling the truth all along and _he_ was denying it that Snape had saved him from drowning in that lake so many months ago.

_No, no, no, _Ron's conscience scolded him, _that act of bravery doesn't measure up to what Snape did to you and your classmates ever since you got here! He even favored Draco, for Merlin's sake!_

Ron was halfway to the dormintory when he stopped short and grabbed on to his head. _Come on,_ he countered,_ be reasonable for once! _Suddenly, when he eventually did start walking again, he thought he heard a voice as Snape spoke softly into his ear:

_"I _did_ save you from drowning several months ago, Mr. Weasley. Isn't your Gryffindor friend Potter telling you the truth?"_

Ron stopped immeadiately and turned around expecting Snape to be behind him at this moment, but he saw that no one was there when he looked. He turned around again and continued walking up to the dormintory, muttering to himself, "I must be hallucinating..." Ron finally reached the door several minutes later and softly knocked on the door, hoping that Harry would be in a better mood.

"Harry? It's your classmate, Ron Weasley."

For a moment Ron thought he heard a groan on the other side. He frowned a bit and tried again, only to end up with silence. He then crossed his arms briefly, and began knocking on the door for the third time.

"Hello? Can you hear me, Harry? It's Ron Weasley coming to visit you."

He waited for a while, and heard Harry mumble, "Go away, I'm napping." Ron was getting a bit angry at being ignored but then he had an idea and decided to try it.

"Hello, Harry," he greeted in a girlish voice that sounded like Hermione herself, "it's Hermione coming to visit you."

Ron soon thought that he was going to be sick after making his voice sound like Hermione, but relief washed over him when he heard Harry groan as he got out of bed and reluctantly walk to the door. As soon as the door was opened, Ron was about to ask him when Harry glared at him with a frown.

"You're not Hermione," Harry pointed out.

"I know that," Ron replied in his normal voice, "and I wanted to ask you something." Saying nothing, Harry slammed the door in Ron's face, almost making him fall down the stairs. Ron, now infuriated by his best friend's aloofness, started banging on the door with his fists yelling, "Harry, you dolt! Open the door because I wanted to ask you a question!" Suddenly he heard Harry mutter some kind of spell and looked down at the doorknob to see it glowing before it disappeared.

_Oh, that is just great... _Ron thought exasperatingly. He started banging on the door again knowing that Harry had locked him out with a spell.

"Harry!" Ron yelled again. "I swear that if you don't let me in any time now I'll ram the door down to make you talk!"

"Leave me alone!" He heard Harry yell back on the other side. Ron was about to say something when he heard Hermione rushing up the stairs with the boys.

"What happened, Ron?" She was asking frantically, "What's going on?" Ron looked at all of them and pointed a shaking finger at the door.

"Harry... H-He locked me out," he almost panicked.

"I'll try something." Hermione pushed Ron to the side and pointed her wand at the knobless door. "_Alohomora_," she uttered the unlocking spell and a bright blue light was shot at the place where the doorknob used to be. After a while Hermione pushed the door to see if it opened but it did not.

"What kind of spell did he use to lock this door?" Hermione asked Ron as she tried the unlocking spell on the door again.

"I don't know. I heard Harry mutter it but it was so quiet, and the knob on the door disappeared." Then Ron can see that Hermione's face almost had the same expression as him.

"Stay here," she said after a while, "I'm going to get Prof. McGonagall." Hermione turned around and started down the stairs, leaving the boys behind. Ron's twin brothers then turned to him with both eyes on him.

"What did you do to Harry?" Fred hissed.

Ron started to get angry. "I said it's not my fault! I said I wanted to ask him a question and he just slammed the door in my face!"

"Maybe it's because of how you treated Harry the past several months!" George replied. "Ever since you arrived here with Harry and Draco from your abscence you and Harry acted like you were going to rip each other's throat out every time you talked!"

"W-Wait a minute, all of you," Lee started. "Remember when Ron mentioned that Snape saved someone? Who do you think was the person Snape saved?" There was an uncomfortable silence that settled on the Gryiffindor boys as they tried to think of an answer to their friend's question. Ron was especially quiet about this and tried to look like he didn't know anything about it. But no matter how hard he tried, flashbacks of what happened on Christmas Eve several months ago kept resurfacing in his mind:

_"What's happening, Harry? Is Professor Snape looking for us?"_

_--_

_"Here, Harry!" Ron shouted to Harry several minutes later, interrupting his thoughts and bringing him back to reality. "Here is the shortcut!"_

_--_

_"I. AM. NOT. A. CREEP!" Draco yelled as he grabbed Ron from the back of his winter coat. "If you're so bent on protecting that Potter boy from me, then I dare you to cross that lake..., BY YOURSELF!"_

_--_

_"RONALD BILIUS WEASLEY! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"_

_--_

_"What were you two thinking about going this way back to Hogwarts, Harry James Potter?! I almost spent my entire class time looking for you," Snape said furiously at the teenage Gryffindor with one of his hands pointing to Ron, "and your clueless friend over there doesn't even realize that he's not supposed to be there in the first place when Minerva told you two not to go through here!"_

"Ron," Lee Jordan suddenly asked Ron out of the blue, "do you have an answer to that?" Ron blinked to see his brothers and friend stare at him, waiting for an answer.

"N-No...," Ron said quietly shaking his head, "I don't know the answer to that question..." He soon heard footsteps coming up the stairs and looked over to see Hermione coming back only this time with McGonagall behind her.

"What's going on here?" McGonagall's tone of voice sounded like they were in for detention for screwing up in class. Ron gulped upon seeing their Head of their Gryffindor House and tried to hide behind his brothers. Hermione did the explaning for the boys as she talked about Ron's unfortunate incident with a jinxed door in an attempt to talk to Harry. McGonagall was not very happy when she finished.

"Did you try_ Alohomora_?"

Hermione nodded. "I did try, but the door wouldn't budge."

McGonagall pushed her way through and looked at the door before noticing that it had no doorknob. "I think Harry used an _Oblivion_ spell to keep the door from opening," she announced before knocking on the door. "Harry? Can you open the door for us?"

There was silence in the dormintory when Harry refused to answer back. Fred looked at Ron to see his face redder than his freckles from shame, while McGonagall shook her head at the door. "I'm afraid I have to ask Dumbledore to replace the knob on this door. Harry won't be any good if he continues to stay in there like a recluse," she sighed. "As for the five of you," she turned to the Gryffindors, "I know you want to help him but all of you are very late for your classes by now."

The boys looked at Hermione, who looked back at them with the same as theirs. "However, I'll write to your teachers about what happened so each of you won't be recieving detention," McGonagall continued, much to the group's relief. She then turned and started down the stairs. "Ten points from all of you for tardiness," she called from the bottom of the stairs, earning slight groans from the Gryffindors.

--

"I can't believe Harry _had_ to lock the door on me," Ron groaned as he leaned against the oak tree with exhasution, with Hermione listening. "I don't know why he's like this with me. He seemed fine when we got back with Draco several months ago, but now we end up bickering every time we try to talk to each other."

"Much like the bickering we had every time you discussed having "fun" with your brothers," Hermione commented, adding another informational sentence on her Charms report with several strokes from her quill.

Ron frowned but he changed the subject, "Man, if Harry's so depressed he should've seen Draco Malfoy right now. He looked like a crying wreck during Charms."

Hermione set aside her homework to stretch herself. "Hmm, maybe there's something related to Snape's disappearance on Christmas Eve several months ago. I mean, I do hope he comes back sooner or later but for some reason Draco found it hard to wait for him to come back to Hogwarts."

"And for some reason, Harry kept lecturing me about Snape saving me from some fate every time I say something that everyone agrees with," Ron sighed, turning to find Hermione staring at him. "What? Was it something that I said?"

"Ron, did you say that Snape _saved_ you?" Hermione asked him.

Ron was taken back by her question and tried to find the words to say. _Oh by Merlin's pants,_ hethought, _'Mione's going to find out about what happened several months ago!_ "...Yes, I did. Why?" He said finally.

"I must be going crazy, Ron. Snape _saved_ you? I can't believe he did that! Oh Ron, did you get yourself hurt during Potions or something? I must-"

"No, no, no, no! I didn't practically hurt myself! He just..., just saved me from the Devil's Snare when I got lost in the Dungeons!"

Hermione snorted, "That's nonsense. The Devil's Snare was burned up when I cast the _Incendio _spell on it in our first year. Surely there wouldn't any one of them inside Hogwarts by this time." Ron slowly nodded, remembering their encounter with the large vine-like plant. Hermione reached over to get her homework and resumed writing on the paper.

"Well, enough about those. Why don't you get started on your Charms homework? Have you started it yet?"

Ron looked down on his parchment to realize that he had only written no more than several inches of information about charm spells. Not wanting Hermione to look at it, he immeadiately grabbed it and started writing, using a large textbook as his workdesk.

"I don't even want to know why I suggested doing our homework out here," Ron muttered to himself as he dipped his quill into a nearby inkpot.

"Maybe you wanted to discuss Harry's behavior," Hermione heard him, startling Ron. "I know the both of you haven't been on good terms recently, but eventually you two will be in your old selves again once we find the reasons _why_."

Before Ron can say something she added, "Tomorrow I'm going to discuss things over with you, Lee, and your brothers. Do you have the time to meet us in the Common Room?"

"But what about Draco?"

"We'll do that another day, Ron," said Hermione, sending a slight chill down Ron's spine as he thought about Snape. As he continued writing, he swore he heard Snape whisper into his ear:

_"Don't worry, Ron. I _did _save your life, remember?"_


	4. Struggles and Hauntings

Chapter 3

It was a few days since the door incident. The day it happened only made the ties of Ron and Harry's friendship even more strained, and Hermione was starting to worry about them as the weeks passed by, watching them in classes at a distance while they sat in chairs that were far away from each other and avoided each other as if they despised one another.

Even the teachers of Hogwarts had the same concern as Hermione did. As much as they were concerned about their O.W.L grades(which were dropping faster than a falling rock), they knew that something must have caused their odd behaviors, but they did not find the exact reason why. As for Draco Malfoy, many classmates who knew him were puzzled about his sudden change since several months ago and though they tried to help him recover it was as if he, along with Ron and Harry, were mentally changed for the worse.

That afternoon, Hermione walked up the stairs to the Gryffindor Doromitory with her wand in hand. She brushed her bushy hair away from her face to get a better vision as she neared the door, which she noticed that it had a new doorknob installed by Dumbledore after Harry cast an _Oblivion_ spell on the previous one to keep Ron from entering.

_That bloke,_ Hermione thought to herself shaking her head_, I don't know what will happen the next time he will attempt to talk to Harry. I hope Ron doesn't end up getting hurt in the process_. She knocked on the door with a series of light taps, speaking, "Hello? It's Hermione. Can I talk to you for a moment?."

"Is it Ron playing that same trick as before?" Harry asked in mock surprise on the other side.

Hermione's brow arched. "Why is that?"

"Ron imitated your voice so he can get in here."

Hermione almost dropped her wand in shock_. "Ron used my voice to talk to you?!"_ She wanted to blurt out to the door but stopped herself just in time, putting her hand on her chest as she let out several rapid breaths. "Well, that's certainly a surprise," she said finally, gaining her composture. "Can I ask you something?"

"As long it's not from that Weasley friend of mine," Harry agreed. Hermione rolled her eyes and sighed.

"What does this person you're talking to like to do in his/her free time?" She asked.

Harry smiled. He knew that ever since he shut himself off from his friends, Hermione would come to his room and ask questions about people - or about herself - before coming in. "Reading books," he answered.

"What spell did this person use on the Devil's Snare in your first year?"

"_Incendio._"

"There are three facts about this person that were true. What are they?"

"1) The person is very intelligent and often raises his/her hand. 2) The person is one of Prof. McGonagall's favorite Gryffindor. 3) The person believed that Prof. Snape would come back to Hogwarts one day."

Hermione took a deep breath and asked, "What is this person's name?"

Harry's smile grew bigger. "Hermione Granger."

The door opened with a creak and Hermione stepped into the room, where she saw Harry lying on his bed. "I'm surprised you remember all the things I asked you about," she grinned with approval at her friend. "I thought you might forget by now." Harry shook his head.

"Nah. I probably heard you talking to Ron or that I heard them so many times every time you visited."

Hermione sighed again as she pulled up a chair and sat down next to Harry's bed_. _"I'm sorry about what happened between you and Ron, so I decided to come over if it would cheer you up," Hermione admitted. Harry nodded as if he understood. "But I'm worried about you Harry. Your sudden change during the past several months, along with Draco Malfoy and our friend Ron, is a bit of a concern for me. Well, not only me but our teachers and... Lee and the Weasley twins as well."

Harry looked at Hermione as if there was something wrong with her. "But I'm fine," he said, "there's nothing wrong with me."

Hermione reached into her robes and pulled out several papers with writing on them, which she then gave to a confused Harry. "I got these papers from several classrooms when our teachers were out doing errands so you can see how your progress was like during the past several months after Snape disappeared."

Harry's eyes skimmed through the papers Hermione gave him as if he wasn't interested in reading at all. It was when he got to the paper where his grades were printed did he slow down. Harry looked at his grades that were from last year, which consisted of E's and A's with only O from a certain class.

He then looked at his current grades and saw that they had changed drastically; with his classes having low marks like T's, D's, and P's. He turned to Hermione, who gave a apologetic look.

"Harry, I'm telling you the truth," she told him. "You did good last year..., but from the day you came back from being out of Hogwarts too long with Ron and Draco..., I think you had been neglecting your studies."

"But what about Ron? And Draco?" Harry asked.

Hermione sighed. "I'll show them their own papers privately when the time comes. But I really wanted to tell you something that is really important."

"What?"

"Harry..., if you don't improve now you're going to fail the fourth term at Hogwarts, and you're going to stay behind in the summer doing makeup work."

--

The early evening in Hogwarts was spent as Harry and Hermione looked to their teachers for advice on how to improve Harry's O.W.L grades. Each teacher had the same answer as the last one:

"Harry, your grades are dropping faster than subtracted house points. What I suggest that you try to study during the holidays so you can catch up in your classes or you have to repeat your term after this year's end."

Ron's academic place in Hogwarts was less severe, though almost all of his O.W.L grades were as low as Harry's. When Hermione showed his teachers' papers about his progress a day later, he admitted that he didn't know that his grades were dropping until now. The response from the teachers that Harry and Ron had were so concerning to Hermione that she had to postpone her discussion about Harry's behavior with Ron's brothers and Lee Jordan so she can help her friends study overtime to catch up with the others in their grades.

Harry and Ron at first didn't like it one bit because they didn't like the fact that they're going to be in the same room as the other and that they had to study as hard as ever, something that they hadn't been used to yet. The room issue was a bit of an annoyance to not only Hermione, but to the others who heard about their friends' poor performance as well. Fred and George were mad at how Ron responded to being with his friend - who was now his "enemy" - and had to go as far as magically tying a "rope" around them with their wands so they would be seperated in case a fight broke out.

"Hermione, you've got to be serious!" Harry cried out to Hermione a day later while glaring daggers at Ron. "I don't want to study about our classes while _he's_ in here! He'll hinder my progress of raising my grades!"

"_Your grades_?!" Ron bellowed from the other side. "What about _my_ grades?! I have to study overtime to bring them up or else I'll be stuck with _you_ next year! Why, your grades were even lower than your poor performance in Hogwarts!"

"Guys, stop this bickering at once so we can all continue our work on your O.W.L grades," Hermione almost shouted at both of them with her hand on her face. "I can't continue tutoring the both of you with your heads exploding next time you see each other. The teachers are concerned for you and so am I!"

"But 'Mione, I don't want to be sitting in this chair next to him! I don't even want to _breathe_ the same air in this room as him!" Ron complained as he struggled against the "rope" binding him to his chair.

"Ron, please...," Hermione pleaded with the taller boy.

"Heeeermioneeee!" The two boys begged. Hermione was so exhausted that she collasped in a nearby couch while steering her eyes to the celing above.

"Look you two, I'm really tired of hearing you yelling arguments at each other. Fred and George should have been in here dealing with you and I will have no problem helping you with work, but they are running errands for their teachers and Lee is out helping Prof. Dumbledore and the staff with the preparations of the next Quidditch match, which is in a few months. If you guys keep this up, there will be trouble ahead and you will be placed in summer school for the break."

Hermione expected a heated response from both of them but all she heard was the stillness in the large room and eventually, the footsteps that echoed through the walls as they came through a short corridor after the portrait of the Fat Lady. _They must be Fred and George, _Hermione thought to herself. But when the door creaked open, George and Lee's heads popped in from behind.

"Is something going on?" George asked. Hermione immeadiately turned her head to face the older boys.

"Oh, I didn't expect the two of you!" Hermione said surprisingly.

Lee rolled his eyes. "Of course not, 'Mione. The Quidditch decorations didn't take long so I had enough time to find George." Hermione's eyes shifted from Lee to George, who cleared his throat with a cough.

"Lee didn't find my twin, though," added George. "Last time I saw him, he told me he was heading towards the library to catch up on some assignment or somethin'." Hermione's brow arched slightly when he quickly put in, "Shouldn't take long for him to come here, though." It was when George noticed that his younger brother was staring daggers at Harry, who looked like he was going to tear him apart.

"What's happening here?" George asked suspiciously, his finger pointed at them.

Hermione sighed, "I think..." - she looked briefly at her friends then back to George and Lee - "...I think they had a bit of a problem of seeing each other during study time." Lee eyed a quick glance at Fred's twin and he could see George getting red in the face.

"Tell you what, Hermione," said Lee standing in full view before George could speak, "we'll do this seperately. I'll part of the catching-up with Ron while you do it with Harry in different rooms so we don't end up with another blow out and Hermione wouldn't have to suffer from doing this herself while we do errands for the teachers."

George's anger lessened as he looked at Lee. "Why that? You know they'll end up in a fight the next time they see each other."

"Ron and Harry kept _insisting_ that they should study in seperate _rooms_," Hermione stood up at last, eyeing Ron and Harry with an angry look. "They're really off their rockers..., in an explosive way if you put it with all of that yelling you two should be hearing from your way here."

The look on George's freckled face told all in the Common Room that he was about to explode. Lee quietly and uncomfortably inched as far away from him as possible. Ron and Harry for once focused their attention elsewhere instead on each other.

"You mean my younger brother was arguing with Harry _again_?" He growled.

"Um...," Hermione cleared her throat. From behind, she can hear Ron giving a nervous gulp.

"George, don't," Lee almost whispered in a high pitch. He always gets like this when either Fred or George was about to lose it.

"I guess you can put it that way," shrugged Hermione. "They were _always _like that whenever I tried to get them to study on their work."

Lee gave her a Shut-it-Hermione look. George's head turned to where Ron and Harry are sitting with the rope putting them apart.

_Uh-oh_, was all Harry thought as they waited for the worst to happen.

"Um..., 'Mione," asked Ron, "what about Draco?"

Everyone faced Ron as everything went silent. George, instead of blowing up, just crossed his arms and scoffed. "You mean that Slytherin slimeball who always picks on the three of you for no reason? Why do you feel sorry for him _now_?" Feeling ashamed by his brother's sarcasm, Ron bowed his head with nothing to say.

"I think he wants to know if we can help Draco recover from his breakdown," Hermione said in defense. "If Draco doesn't sooner or later, who knows what might happen to him later on?"

"But we're _Gryffindors_, Hermione," protested Lee. "Slytherins don't like Gryffindors for countless reasons that even _you_ don't know about."

"And besides, they hate anyone who has a bloodline other than just Pureblood," George added.

Hermione didn't believe what they said. "Maybe it's got to be related to Snape's disappearance somehow," she said thoughtfully. "If we can hope for one day that Snape _does_ come back to Hogwarts, Draco will cheer up!"

George looked at Hermione as if she lost her mind. "Oh great!" He said in frustration. "First you talk about Draco. And you talk about Professor_ Snape_?!"

"George!" Lee whispered harshly.

Suddenly, Harry and Ron heard the door open with a _creak_ as a boy with a brown toad in his arms appeared through the doorway and stepped into the Common Room. "Guys?" he spoke up timidly amidst all the loud voices.

"Neville!" Harry shouted from his chair, causing the conversation to stop abruptly. "What are you doing here?"

"Um..., I just came to tell you that it's nearly bedtime...," Neville paused, glancing at his friends nervously, "so the Gryffindors are going to be coming here in a few minutes."

"What about you?" asked Ron.

"...I just came early because McGonagall was asking the rest of us if we saw Professor Snape in the Transfigurations classroom," he replied, seeing Ron and Harry's faces pale. "Well, during class yesterday, she thought she saw him standing in the back while we were practicing transforming a mushroom to a pincushion..."

Much to Ron and Harry's surprise, everyone else didn't say a word about it. "I think I'll be going to bed now," he put it quickly and briskly walked to the dormintory upstairs. Hermione looked at Ron and Harry with a questionable look.

"Boys?" she asked suspiciously. "Do you two have something to do with this?" The two Gryffindors looked at each other with a We're-in-big-trouble glance.

"No," they both answered.

"I'm _serious_, you two! Do you have something to do with what happened yesterday _and_ today?" Hermione's answer was still "No". It was then Lee stared to yawn.

"You know, I'm really starting to get tired. Isn't it time for _us_ to go to bed, too?" He asked in an almost lazy way as he stretched his arms.

The others turned to look out of a big window nearby and noticed that the moon was already out in a dark sky. They all made silent glances at each other. What they didn't realize that they had been talking so long that neither of them didn't even notice how fast time went by.

"Yeah, I'm getting tired, too," Hermione agreed. Turning to the boys, she said, "We'll all help the two of you with your studies tomorrow." Then she turned to George. "And George?"

"What is it?"

"Don't you think you need to..., do something?"

With a reluctant groan, George raised his wand and muttered a counter spell that loosened the "ropes" placed on Ron and Harry. They immeadiately stood up to stretch their sore joints from being confined to their chairs too long, earning them a couple of sighs.

As they left to prepare for sleep upstairs, Lee whispered in Ron's ear, "Remind me that we have to get Fred to put a prank on Filch sometime soon." Ron silenty nodded, then made a quick look at Hermione to see if she heard them. She did not, making Ron feel relieved.

--

Harry walked into a nearby bathroom in a tired walk, humming a Muggle song he heard a couple of years ago to keep himself awake enough to brush his teeth. He also felt sore from being "tied" to a chair just because he almost fought with his best friend, who was going to sleep on the sofa tonight to avoid sleeping with him like he used to when they first became friends. It was then Harry started to worry about Ron.

_I wonder why Ron doesn't consider me a friend of his anymore? _He thought to himself, thinking of the happy times they spent together before Snape's death. Every thought of their former friendship made tears come out of his eyes, and eventually Harry found himself weeping for being torn apart. Ron was always his best friend since their first year in Hogwarts, and it all started when Draco Malfoy bullied him at King's Cross for having a poor background and for being a "blood traitor".

Harry started to smile at this memory despite the tears. The first time Harry really met Draco, the young blonde thought he was another pureblood who shared his family's beliefs about Muggles, and made an offer to become friends with _him_ instead of poor Ron struggling to pick up the things he dropped. Feeling sorry for Ron, Harry turned Draco down and stood up for the other side, and Ron had been friends with Harry ever since.

Now, Harry was beginning to realize that friendship was falling apart. He then sighed wearily as he leaned on the sink. All of those memories..., are they really worth for the recent turmoil they're going through now?

Harry unscrewed the cap off of a toothpaste container and started to squeeze its contents on his toothbrush. As he closed it and took his glasses, he suddenly thought he heard someone speaking behind him. Harry immeadiately turned around and saw that no one was there.

_Am I just imagining things?_ Harry wondered. He just shrugged to himself and reached for his toothbrush. He was starting to raise it to his already open mouth when he heard someone speaking in a stern tone.

"_Still up, Potter?_"

This time Harry wasn't "imagining" things. Seeing only himself in the mirror in front, he slowly turned around and found himself face-to-face with a transparent Snape looming over him like a shadow. By the time he had vanished, Harry's body was on the floor with a red toothbrush next to his hand.


	5. Enter Snape

In the early hours of morning, a small bit of light shone on Harry's face as he woke up to find himself lying on a bed somewhere inside Hogwarts that wasn't in the Gryffindor House. He moved one of his legs slightly and cringed. His joints were still sore from the binding spell Fred and George put on him and Ron to keep them from fighting, but he considered himself lucky as both of his arms weren't sore enough to leave them painly stiff and unmovable. Harry used his arms to lift himself up and sat on the unknown bed while he started to rub his eyes. Finding out that his glasses wasn't there, everything he saw around him appeared to be blurry like a kaleidoscope when you look into one.

Harry felt around for his glasses with his hands, feeling surfaces of what seemed to be a nightstand next to his bed with a lamp on top. Lowering himself to feel the floor to see if his glasses fell, Harry leaned over too far from the bed, and it caused him to fall over. He expected that he would hit his head on the floor since no one was nearby, but then he felt something - or someone - catch him and and made him stand up on his feet.

"Pomfrey?" Harry half-muttered his guess when he saw his glasses sitting in the palm of a hand that looked different and awfully familiar at the same time. He took the glasses from the hand and put them on, and then the scene became more clearer to see. Then Harry began looking around and frowned; he saw no one there once again.

_I must be seeing things, _was his first thought since he woke up, turning around when he found himself looking at Snape straight in the eye.

"_What are you doing here, Potter?_" Snape asked in a cold tone. Harry gasped in fright and landed on the floor again on his rear.

" W-W-Who...," Harry stammered in shock. Snape rolled his eyes at the boy's surprised expression.

"_Do you think you spent so much time in the Gryffindor Tower as a hermit like you did months after my death that you don't even recognize me?_" Snape took a step forward towards Harry, who wanted to get up and run for his life.

"P-P-Professor, I..."

"_Do you think you're free to do whatever you wanted after I'm finally out of you and your friend's lives?_" Harry could tell that there was a hint of anger radiating from his former teacher. Snape took another step forward.

"_After all of those years teaching so many dunderheads at Hogwarts, the three of you made me meet my end in that frozen lake by daring that Weasley boy to cross it without knowing the dangers of doing so!_" Snape almost shouted at the cowering Boy-Who-Lived. Harry crawled backwards on his feet and hands, trying to get away from him. "_Do you ever seem to realize that several students died crossing the thin ice trying to get back to Hogwarts the quicker way? Minvera warned the both of you not to go over there during lunch hours, and yet you did! I can't believe you were so reckless and foolhardy just like your father..."_

Harry suddenly stood up as bravely as he could, saying, "It was Draco's fault Ron almost drowned there! And I'm not foolhardy like Dad!"

"_And you were, weren't you? Couldn't think of other options except to cross it_?" Snape smirked though it didn't show.

"We left our brooms in our rooms," Harry clenched his fists, "and the both of us were underage to use magic to warp back to Hogwarts."

"_Why didn't you go back the way you came from, like you usually did whenever I caught you late at night?_"

"It'll take long for us to get back that way. Our teachers would take away house points if we were tardy to classes." Harry half-expected for Snape to throw in some random insult or an angry lecture about how careless they were when suddenly, he heard footsteps coming their way down the corridors on the other side. It was then Harry heard a female voice:

"Potter? Why in Merlin's name are you talking to yourself early in the morning?"

Fear gripped Harry with its clutches. If Pomfrey saw Snape, then she'll go into excitement and go about the whole school alerting everyone of his presence. And everything will be thrown into chaos, and the media will be printing newspapers saying:

**HOGWARTS TEACHER RETURNS AFTER LONG ABSENCE**

_'But then my friends would be angry with the fact he's here, and that I was seen with him', _Harry thought. Soon Pomfrey appeared in a doorway that lead to somewhere else, with hands on her hips.

"What are you doing out of bed?" Pomfrey asked sternly like a mother scolding her child for staying up late. Harry turned his head, thinking that Snape was still there, but to his surprise, he was gone. "Potter?" Her voice snapped Harry out of it, and he turned back to face the nurse.

"I was trying to find my glasses," Harry responded uneasily while adjusting his pair on his nose, trying to push Snape's mental image out of his mind with no success.

"Well, you found them now," Pomfrey said dryly, making him turn a tad red. "Why don't you rest here a little bit? You looked like you've seen a ghost last night."

Harry was now dumbstruck. "H-How..."

"Poor Neville," Pomfrey shook her head as she recalled, "he was panicked when he told me what happened to you last night. I had to carry you on my back to bring you here so you can recover from your shock."

"So..., I'm in the Hospital Wing?" Harry guessed, looking at his surroundings.

"Where else could you be?"

Harry was speechless. He couldn't remember anything about the bathroom incident, except that he saw Snape two times in a row. But he didn't expect Neville to find him in the boy's bathroom half-dead after seeing a ghost. Harry wrung his neck and now wished Snape would come and scare the nurse away, but he didn't appear. "Can I go back to where my friends are?" he asked after a while.

"I think you should rest here for a bit more."

"No, really! I'm feeling fine right now."

Pomfrey sighed. "OK, Potter. You shall leave. But don't get yourself hurt now!" Harry was out of the Hospital Wing at the end of her sentence. Briskily walking, he looked back and let out a small shutter as he headed to his destination, but suddenly he felt a weird sensation go through his body. It was like being possessed by a ghost that controls your movements, except less controlling.

_Snape? _Harry thought to himself uneasily as he walked. He couldn't bear to imagine that his teacher's ghost was inside him when Pomfrey appeared, and the very thought made him jerk with nervousness. He had read Muggle stories about people getting possessed by some random ghost they just met for no reason, and it made him always wondered how would it _feel _like if the person who wrote those stories would be actually possessed by one.

"_Potter?_"

Harry turned around to look who's behind him. Seeing that no one is there, he sighed with frustration. It was getting tiring to hear someone's voice and see that the person speaking was not there. _'Next time I hear a voice, I'm going to ignore it,'_ he thought to himself.

"_Potter!_"

Harry made a sound of suprisement and realized that Snape was calling him. He looked around wildly, and sweat began trickling down his head. "S-Snape?"

"_Don't make me repeat myself, Potter,_" was Snape's reply.

"B-But I don't know where-" Harry's voice was starting to shake. He swore that he heard a frustrated sigh.

"_Exactly,_" Snape said, "_You don't have Hermione's intelligence to know where I am._"

Harry almost growled, despite his fear. "Where _are_ you, Professor Snape?"

"_I'm inside._"

"Inside _where_?"

"_Inside a Gryffindor._"

It took a while for Harry to figure out who Snape was referring to. He did say 'Gryffindor', so it must have been a student from the house of Gryffindor. _Is it Ron?_ Harry thought. But then he shook his head. His Weasley friend would think Snape was trying to attack him. _Neville?_ The thought of the cowardly boy made him shiver. If someone told him that, Neville would go screaming that he was possessed. _Hermione? _No. He didn't know how the brainy girl's reaction would be like, but something told him that it wouldn't be very pleasant to see. _What about Fred, or George? _Harry didn't know what in Merlin's wits would happen if those pesky Weasley twins were possessed.

After mentally crossing off each Gryffindor name that came to mind, Harry came down to the last of the mental list of Gryffindors: His own name. Harry shook his head, trying to cross it off, but it kept appearing. He tried to deny that he was the one who was acting as the host of his dead teacher's ghost, but a voice rang in his head: _You are Snape's host, Harry Potter. You're the only one who hears him, just as he hears you. He's residing in you, Harry._

No, no, no, Harry thought to himself before an idea sprang in his head. "What about Draco Malfoy?" he said to himself. Draco seemed to be a very good choice for Snape since the nasty Slytherin boy witnessed his death in the first place, which scarred Draco for months on end. Harry very much agreed with his answer when suddenly a voice answered in his head:

"_You're wrong, Potter..._"

"Snape!" Harry almost shouted to no one in particular. "Can't I be right on something for once?"

"_Why would you consider Draco even though he's not a Gryffindor?_" Snape asked.

"Because," said Harry, "Draco's been acting like an emotional wreck since..."

"_Several months ago?_"

"Exactly. I don't see him much anymore, but he cries a lot and on a few occasions I heard him say that he shouldn't have let you die."

Snape didn't believe him. "_Liar._"

"I'm telling the truth!"

"_That's the oldest excuse I've ever heard, Potter,_" Snape scoffed, making Harry turn red. "_And besides, Draco is not a Gryffindor."_

"I know Draco's not a Gryffindor, professor!"

"_Have you checked out the possible answers to my question?_" This made Harry quiet down enough for him to think.

"What question?"

"_I'm inside which Gryffindor?_ _Hello?_"

"Oh. Yeah."

"_What name are you left with, then?_"

Harry gulped. "Harry Potter," he almost stuttered nervously.

"_Your own name?_"

"Yeah."

"_Then that's the answer, Potter,_" Snape put it.

"What?!" Harry gasped in surprise.

"_You heard me, Potter. Your name is the answer._"

"Can't there be someone else other than me, Snape?"

Snape sighed, "_Do you see anyone hearing me talking to you right now?_" Harry looked around for a moment.

"No."

"_Then it's decided. Your name is the answer, Potter._"

Realizing that Snape was really telling the truth, Harry's face started to pale rapidly. _Oh no,_ he thought to himself. Getting no reply from Snape, Harry rushed down the hall, ignoring protests from animated portraits and the occasional student he bumped into on the way. Running down the stairs to the second floor, he turned a corner and ran into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, where he looked at the mirror to find any traces of being possessed. All he saw was his same old figure(except the fact he was pale), and he let out a deep sigh of relief.

"Somebody tell me that this is a dream...," Harry muttered to himself.

"_About being possessed by a ghost?_" Snape's dreaded voice finished his sentence. Harry jumped at the sound of it and pulled out his wand just in case.

"Why did you hide yourself in my body?" Harry asked no one as while he panted.

"_If I had shown myself to that nurse you were talking to earlier, she will be terrified and cause a ruckus,_" Snape replied.

"You mean Madam Pomfrey?"

"_Yes, Potter. You were afraid that the whole school would find out about me, so I took the liberty of hiding inside of you._" Harry nodded as he listened "_I thought a student from Gryffindor would be brave enough with this concept of 'possessing' as Muggles call it, but I was wrong._"

"You thought you can hide inside me because I won't be scared to death?" Harry hissed.

"_Potter...!_"

"Sorry."

"_I don't hide inside students just for fun,_" Snape reminded his former student.

"I know, but you're scaring me enough already."

"_It would be better if you'd cooperate._"

Harry's face turned paler than before. "Cooperate with a ghost?! Are you crazy?!"

Snape sighed inside of him. "_Look, Potter, I'm just trying to explain things._"

"No, you're not," Harry replied.

"_Then if you don't believe me, I advise you to turn around._"

"Professor," Harry countered, "after all these years of not telling me what you've been hiding, you decided to tell me everything at the wrong time when I'm dead?"

"_I'd rather not have you look into my memories,_" Snape retorted. "_Please turn around._"

"But-"

"_Just turn around or I will subtract all house points from Gryffindor!_"

Harry sighed and reluctantly turned around, facing the mirror once again for a few moments.

"_Now turn around and face me, Potter,_" he heard Snape's voice. He turned around as instructed, and found the ghostly form of Snape looking at him. Startled, Harry leaned against the sink to try to distance himself from him. Snape shook his head, tsk-tsking loudly.

"What?" Harry asked defensively.

"_Three times we met, and you're still afraid of a teacher's ghost,_" Snape observed.

Harry's cheeks turned deep red. "I am not!"

"_Yes, you were,_" Snape said in a taunting tone. "_The first time you saw me, you fainted in the boy's bathroom..._"

"I didn't faint in the boy's bathroom," Harry denied, though it was true.

"_The second time you saw me, you wanted to run for your life..._"

Harry was starting to feel nervous. "Was not!"

"A_nd the third time..._"

Harry couldn't take it anymore. "Okay, okay!" he raised his hands in defeat. "I was afraid of you."

"_Told you so._"

Harry turned away from him; a frustrated sigh escaped his lips. He felt uneasy talking to Snape in real life. Even when he was dead for several months and had come back as a ghost, Harry still had that feeling while he talked to him. Suddenly, he heard another voice that didn't sound like Snape. It was a girl's voice, he realized as the voice called his name.

_"Harry_?"

Snape also heard the voice and went through his former student, and he was gone. Harry then saw another ghost emerge from one of the bathroom stalls a moment later, and judging by the large glasses, the dual ponytails, and the blue Hogwarts uniform, he can tell that it was Moaning Myrtle from Ravenclaw.

"Moaning Myrtle?" Harry breathed at the sight of her.

"_What in Merlin's name are you doing here?_" Moaning Myrtle asked while floating in the air, her hands on her hips. "_And who was that person you were talking to?_"

Uh-oh, Harry thought nervously, Moaning Myrtle's going to find out about Snape.

"I was running from Draco and his usual minions," Harry lied to the girl ghost, earning a frown. "For some reason, they must've hated me so I fled to hide here."

Unfortunately, she saw right through his lie. "_That's nonsense, Harry,_" she said disbelievingly.

"Really?"

"_Yeah. I heard that Draco was sobbing nonstop every day, and that the other Slytherins are trying to help him. I guess he must be dealing with something very tragic._"

Harry was stunned into silence after he first heard about his Slytherin rival. Then he remembered seeing Draco crying because he had 'let' Snape drown in the icy lake several months before, so he began to see a connection to what Moaning Myrtle said about him. "Yeah, I guess so," he replied sheepishly.

"_So who were you talking to?_"

Harry gulped nervously. No good lying to her now. "I was talking to Snape."

"_Snape?_" Moaning Myrtle said curiously.

"Um..., yeah," Harry answered. "You know..."

It took a while for her think about it, and she realized who Harry was talking about. "_Oh! You mean that batty Potions Master who disappeared several months ago? Was that the person you were talking to?_"

Harry nodded. Inside, he can feel Snape getting annoyed at the word 'batty'.

"_Well, the teachers were wondering where Snape went several months ago, too,_" Moaning Myrtle explained. "_One time, I heard one of them say to Filch, 'Harry, Ron, and Draco shouldn't have been gone too long after lunch. I wonder what they were up to.' And then Filch said, 'Well, those darn kids shouldn't have been outside at all because Dumbledore had to send Snape to find and bring them here.'."_

"Was that all?"

"_No, there's more. The teacher said, 'Don't be too harsh on the kids. They just got lost and couldn't find their way back.' Filch said to her, 'Of course they did! They should've been punished for their disobedience!'."_

"Was that what Filch said to the teacher?" Harry can feel himself getting angry at the school janitor's comment.

"_Oh yes! And the teacher said, 'But what happened to Snape?' I saw Filch pale and he said, 'No one knows for sure. But a few know that Dumbledore personally sent Snape to find Harry and the others. I don't know how in the world did they managed to go back to Hogwarts by themselves, but I heard from Dumbledore that Snape didn't return with them.'._"

Harry started to pale just as Filch did in her explanation. He, Ron, and Draco all knew that Snape had drowned saving Ron after he had fell in, but now he was afraid that someday Draco might reveal what really happened to him during his sobbing periods.

"Well, I _was _talking to Snape," Harry admitted, "but don't tell anyone that I was."

"_Why?_"

"Because I don't know what in Merlin's beard would happen if you did. Whenever you talk to someone, don't reveal my conversations with Snape."

"_Does this count as a promise?_"

"Yes. Try to promise yourself not to tell _anyone_ while I'm gone, okay?"

Moaning Myrtle hesitated about this, but she said, "_Okay, Harry. I promise not to tell._"

"Thanks!" Harry called and ran out of her bathroom, leaving Moaning Myrtle wondering why she made the promise in the first place.

-------

Meanwhile, Hermione was helping Ron study for a test for one of their classes by telling clues about each subject that they had learned during their current unit. Lee and George helped, too: They had offered to help Ron do his homework that need catching up on so he can raise his OWLS until the beginning of the fifth term. However, Ron wasn't liking this at all since it reminded him of 'cramming' - a Muggle word used to define remembering large amounts of information in a shot period of time. He sighed in frustration as he listened to Hermione drone about things they needed to learn.

"I'm bored," Ron muttered under his breath.

Hermione stopped talking and glared. "It's important you raise your OWLS so you don't fail your year."

"So what if I don't study?" Ron countered.

Hermione felt her cheeks turning red. "Ron! Do you ever think that I might let you goof off somewhere with your brothers instead of doing homework?"

"You know, I would rather see you having fun _once_ in a while instead of reading books."

"Well, I don't think playing around while having work to do isn't _my_ idea of free time."

Ron rolled his eyes. "_Yeah right_," he scoffed."I bet you're plotting something that will make us study more rather than playing more."

"I do not do _that_!" Hermione gasped.

"Do too!" Ron shot back.

"Do not!

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Oh, if you think you're so smart," she retorted, "what else do you know _besides_ what we're reviewing?" This made him hesitate for a while, and Ron literally scratched his head.

"I don't know. All I can think of is Potions," he said absentmindly. Hermione stared at him in disbelief.

"Ron, I thought you and Harry hated Potions!"

Ron tried to calm himself at this remark but deep down, he felt really embarrassed for not shutting his big mouth. "Well it's the _only_ thing I can remember."

Hermione raised a brow. "Not even all the other classes?"

"Um...," Ron pondered, "no?"

"Is it that the lectures on the potion ingredients Prof. Snape gave us made you remember?"

"No," replied Ron.

"Or is it that you've been studying secretly all night just to memorize them?"

"No," the answer came again.

Hermione groaned and slapped her face in exasperation while Ron didn't say anything. He didn't know why he brought up the subject of Potions, but he felt really certain that Hermione will find out the truth about Snape's disappearance sooner or later if he kept talking. Ron shook his head at it and reached over to get a **Hogwarts: A History** textbook out of a very tall stack without making it tip over. As soon as he opened it, he heard the door open with a loud creak. Ron turned, and saw Fred emerge from the other side with George following.

"Fred! George!" Ron shouted in greeting to his older twin brothers. "Where have you been?"

George explained, "Fred got himself stuck in the Room of Requirements for a day or two, so I had to get help from McGonagall." Hermione gave a questionable glance, while Fred gave a sheepish grin.

"You got stuck in the Room of Requirements?" she asked. Fred slowly nodded.

"Sorry," he apologized. "

Hermione shook her head in disappointment. Ron glanced at her and fell silent as if not to make things more awkward. "Where's Lee Jordan?" she asked then.

Fred looked at his twin, who shrugged. "He's doing an errand for a teacher," he replied to Hermione, who raised a brow. "He'll be back soon."

"Has anyone seen Harry?" George looked at Hermione and Ron. They looked at each other in confused glances. They didn't know anything about what happened to their other friend last night.

"We didn't see him," Ron told his brothers.

"Why don't you ask Neville?" Hermione suggested. "He might know where Harry is."

"Where is Neville?"

"In one of the dorms upstairs." Just as she spoke, Neville can be seen walking down the stairs holding Trevor, his beloved toad. Fred was the first to catch sight of the cowardly Gryffindor classmate as he entered the Common Room.

"Hey, Neville!" Fred called, startling the boy. "Have you seen Harry Potter anywhere?"

Neville looked at the twins warily, clutching on his pet toad even more. "Why do you want to know about him?"

Ron was about to say something when suddenly he turned to see Harry at a distance from the door. Fred, George, and Hermione turned, too, and watched as Harry strode past them and up the stairs leading to the dormitories where he usually stayed. A slamming door can be heard seconds later, which made Neville jump slightly.

"Well_, that's_ a rarity," Ron said sarcastically, and they all kind of understood the point that seeing Harry was recently a rare sight. Just then, the sound of the bell rang, startling everyone. Hermione looked at her hidden watch to check the time.

"Time to move," she reminded as she hurried to gather up books strewn all over the place. Neville looked at Trevor worryingly and put the brown toad on a nearby window sill as Ron and his twin brothers helped Hermione. They were down to getting the remainder when Prof. McGonagall's head popped in.

"Hurry up, all of you, not a minute to waste," she barked at them. All groaned as they looked at the Head of Gryffindor.

"Do we have to?" George groaned.

"George!" Hermione hissed at him.

"Well, if you don't want your points taken away," McGonagall answered, "I'd suggest you all hop to it."

"Guys, is Harry going to come?" Neville's question rang in his friends' ears.

"Why do you ask that?" Hermione turned to the boy as she forced the last books into her bulging schoolbag.

"Because...," he pointed out, "Harry is always staying here by himself."

Fred shrugged along. "That's fine with him, if the old mate likes it," he said.

"Harry won't stay in this room forever," McGonagall spoke up, startling him. "If he wants to raise his OWLS, he'd better be attending some classes that were missed during the current quarter."

George looked at his twin, who gave an apologetic glance and turned to Hermione while she looked for her wand. She let out a sharp breath of relief when she found the wand in the front pocket of her bag and pulled out.

"Found it," she said to herself. Turning to her friends, Hermione asked, "You all ready?"

"We are," Neville muttered shyly, glancing a worried look at Trevor.

"Then let's go!"

All four Gryffindors started for the door and exited the Common Room. McGongall followed after them, leaving the door moving slightly more ajar than it was before. Trevor, being a toad with springy legs, jumped from the window sill and hopped continuously on the floor, looking for a place to hide. As soon as he dove under a chest drawer, Trevor saw with his slimy eyes a transparent ghost of a gaunt man wearing black robes closing the door. By the first blink, the man had gone, and the brown toad hopped from his hiding place to see the door closed. His timid owner knew who that ghost was, and it was Trevor's first time he'd seen him. But toads can't talk, so Trevor couldn't do anything about it.

And Snape? Well, he didn't care.


	6. Meeting Draco and Stumbling into Secrets

Meanwhile, while Harry stayed in the Gryffindor Tower, Ron, Hermione, and Neville were on their way to their next class after Ron's twin brothers went their seperate ways. "See you till our next prank," they said to the three of them earlier, making Hermione slightly peeved because she already knew what they were going to do. However, Ron's tense mood had eased when he heard this because his brothers were always humorous. Neville was close by, but he kept silent.

"So what's our next class then, Hermy?" Ron asked Hermione.

"I can't get the schedule right now, Ron," Hermione replied, "but I think today's including Potions."

"P-Potions?" Neville's voice can be heard behind. Ron sighed. Potions was a scary subject for Neville because he was always getting potion ingredients wrong, thus ending up in a disaster that usually had the mixture blowing up in his face or making an entire mess. Secondly, Professor Snape and his cold personality always made Neville trembling, and all couldn't help it because Snape had this air around him that seemed to prevent anyone from standing up for the poor boy.

"Yeah," Ron repeated, "Potions."

"But Snape's not teaching that anymore," Hermione pointed out. "I wonder why he disappeared just like that?" Ron gulped, which Hermione fortunately did not hear. He knew what happened to Snape, and he wanted to discuss the subject but he didn't want to bring it up now in front of Hermione or Neville..., or either of them, anyway.

"At least he's not there to scare the wits out of Neville," Ron said instead, making Neville relax a bit. "Right, Neville?"

Neville nodded. "Y-Yeah," he stuttered nervously.

Hermione glared at Ron. "Snape doesn't scare people for fun," she said hotly.

"Well, he _did _have a couple of admirers..." Ron replied.

"You mean the Slytherins."

"Yeah. Especially Draco."

Walking with a large group of students crammed in the hallway, Ron, Hermione, and Neville soon reached a large room with lots of moving stairs leading to the next floor. The trio took a staircase that sloped downwards, and when it stopped at a door, Ron opened it and passed into another hallway that had portraits of people hanging from either side; Hermione had sworn that she can hear one of them complain about the loud noise and the amount of students. At the end was another door that lead to the Entrance Hall, and Ron, Hermione, and Neville went down the main stairs and went down a staircase leading the way to the dungeons with a handful of students passing by or following them. When they stepped into the dungeons, Ron started to shiver in the cold air, even though his Gryffindor robes were thick enough to keep him warm.

"My god, it's freezing in here!" Ron almost shouted as his teeth chattered. Hermione puffed her breath into the air and the cold made it visible like a little cloud of mist.

"It must be the first of December," she reminded, remembering that the dungeons of Hogwarts were the coldest places in the winter. "You'll get used to it."

"Used to what?" Ron countered. "Freezing to death while turning into a block of ice?" Hermione rolled her eyes at her friend's sarcasm.

"Very funny, Ron."

"Where's the Potions classroom?" Neville asked in the conversation, snapping his friends into reality. Ron shook his head as a slight pang made its way and looked for a door that almost touched the ceiling. When he found it, he motioned Hermione and Neville for them to follow and walked towards the door to open it for them. They both walked in, and Ron left the door to join them, leaving the door to be pushed open again and again by other students walking into the classroom.

Ron looked around and noticed that the classroom, despite Snape's abscense, had not changed. On each wall-shelf, there were all sorts of jars and containers full of things that made him want to gag. The positions of the long, horizontal tables with each small cauldron hadn't changed, either, and the teacher's desk where Snape used to be was still there. As all students filed in their correct seat, Hermione asked Ron quietly, "Where's Draco? Doesn't he usually sit across us at the other front table?"

Ron shrugged. "I don't know, 'Mione. He's probably hiding somewhere crying his eyes out."

Hermione glared and whacked Ron on his head with her wand. "That isn't funny to say, Ron."

"It's true!" Ron rubbed his head.

"Well, why did you say that?"

Ron fell silent. As much as he hated Draco, he didn't have anything much to say about him after their little "shortcut" tragedy several months ago. Heck, as long as Draco had been his and Harry's enemy from Slytherin, Ron didn't know how long Draco had been sobbing after Snape had gone "mysteriously" from Hogwarts, as the others put it.

Ron looked behind his shoulder and saw Draco Malfoy shuffling in with the last of the students, his head bowed in deep mourning. His blond hair, once neatly combed back of his head, had lost its luster and was disheveledly draped over Draco's now pale and gaunt face like a dull yellow curtain. His school uniform and robes were unkempt and messy; his gray and green tie hung limply over his shirt, and his pants looked as if they had a loose fit because of Draco's skinny frame. The laces on his shoes were untied, and the sleeves of his uniform and his robes were stained by tears shed frequently whenever he cried, which was often.

"Hermione," Ron whispered to her, "it's Draco Malfoy."

Hermione looked around. "Where?"

Ron pointed to Draco shortly, and Hermione almost gasped at the sight, instantly feeling pity instead of contempt for the Slytherin. Compared to the Draco from the previous years, the current Draco now looked tired and forlorn, as if he was now a shell of his former self. Hearing Ron, Draco looked at him and Hermione, and Ron caught a glimpse of the dark circles surrounding his bloodshot eyes. "_Ron_," Draco's eyes seemed to say to the two Gryffindors. Ron tried to look away but he was trapped in his stare, however for a moment he seemed to know what Draco saw that caused his current state to form.

Suddenly, out of the blue, came two heavyset boys walking side by side as usual whenever Harry bumped into them. Those who knew who they were recognized the boys as Crabbe and Goyle, Draco's 'minions' and 'bodyguards'. Crabbe walked over to Draco and whispered something in his ear. Draco, his head still bowed, nodded silently and went with Crabbe to sit down at the front table. Goyle briefly glanced at them and threw a glare at Ron and Hermione as he walked by. Ron dragged down one of his eyelids and stuck out his tongue in a taunting way, causing Goyle's eyes to widen for a moment before he shook a fist at him. While he sat down, Ron quietly sniggered at his little joke; however Hermione glared at him.

"What?" Ron said surprisingly. "He _is _a Slytherin." But he didn't say anymore. Hermione, having nothing to say, just turned away and shook her head, sighing as she did. Just at that moment, footsteps seemed to echo through the cold hallways and by this time, the classroom had gone silent even when a person of short stature with a round belly and a walrus-like moustatche entered the room in small strides.

"Blimey," Ron whispered to himself, "It's Slughorn."

"You mean _Professor_ Slughorn," Hermione whispered back, having heard what Ron said.

Ron rolled his eyes. "Who cares?"

Instead of focusing on her friend's less-than-flattering comment, she said this: "I heard that Professor Slughorn is quite jovial."

"How do you know that if you hadn't met him yet?"

"I don't know. We'll find out for sure."

Fortunately, for Ron anyway, Slughorn didn't hear their little conversation and proceeded to stand at the front of the rows of seated students be for him, Gryffindor and Slytherin alike. He cleared his thick throat with a little cough and tugged on his colorful robes, and to Ron's mental disconfort, a grin began to spread on his face.

"Good afternoon, students!" Slughorn joyfully addressed the students sitting in front of him. Most of them had brightened up a bit and replied back:

"Good afternoon, Professor Slughorn!"

Slughorn let out a laugh that seemed to echo throughout the whole classroom, Ron very much shuddered at the sound, though it should make his mood brighter like those he knew, but it only made things worse. _I wish Professor Snape was still here,_ he thought to himself miserably, fidgeting on his stool.

"I hope you've remembered all we learned about Potions," Slughorn then spoke out. "I hope you remember all the ingredients and the requirements to make each potion. Because at every beginning of December, there is an O.W.L requirement set by the Headmaster himself. As all of you in your fourth year right now, I'm pretty sure Severus had been teaching during your third year."

The classroom was silent. Hermione threw a concerned glance at Draco, whose head was resting face-down in his arms while he sobbed quietly. At a table in the back of the classroom, Ron thought he heard Neville whimper. Slughorn surveyed the classroom and then he clapped his hands together and rubbed them excitedly. "Then let's get down to business," he declared, and at that, the students were wondering what they are going to do.

"Today, we are going to make a Wit-Sharpening Potion as a graded group project," Slughorn announced. "Everyone, find a partner you can work with. I will be grading you while I watch you make the potion required."

It was almost pure chaos after 'required'. Students from all tables moved around hastily to be with a friend they knew or someone they liked. Poor Neville was paired with Hermione - again - because she was the only one available and no one wanted him as a partner. Ron, if Harry was there by any chance, would usually paired up with him. But because Harry had shut himself up in the Gryffindor Tower, Ron was alone and so was Draco, who was still sitting in the front by himself, sobbing. Slughorn walked down the classroom, inspecting each Gryffindor and Slytherin, who stood with his/her partner. He eventually walked up to Ron, who was sitting at the middle table without a partner.

"Why don't you have a partner, Weasley?" Slughorn questioned.

Ron was startled, but he immeadiately calmed himself. "I don't know, professor."

Slughorn sighed. "This is a group project, Weasley," he said. "People involved in this don't work alone."

"Well, Harry's not here..."

Ron's remark made Hermione groan, followed by a facepalm. Slughorn sighed for the second time.

"Tell you what," Slughorn said to the boy, "why don't you pair up with Mr. Malfoy over there?"

Ron's freckled face paled rapidly as he looked at the one his Potions teacher was pointing at. "You've got to be kidding." He said denfesively at his teacher. Being a Slytherin-disliker at heart, he knew better than to associate with anyone from Slytherin. A clumsy and forgetful Hufflepuff would be better.

"Weasley." Slughorn's enthusiasm disappeared as fast as it came. "Are you going to do this, or you're ending up with a 'T' mark in your O.W.L.S?" Ron knew better than to let his stubbornness get the better of him. With a reluctant sigh, he got off his stool and moved to an empty stool next to Draco; his expression was almost murderous. Feeling satisfyed, Slughorn looked at the rest of the students, his face now beaming again.

"Now," he announced, "let us begin!"

--

Somewhere else in Hogwarts, a brown-colored boy with thick locks of black hair hanging from his head appeared from behind a door and closed it with a creak that echoed, making him wince. Though he had just finished a teacher's errand and was told to do another, Lee Jordan wanted to retreat to Gryffindor Tower and help Hermione with her "tutoring sessions" as Fred and George dubbed it. But he was so busy, Lee's head was already spinning by the time he went to floors several stories high and several stories down just to get something done.

"Come on, Lee,"he told himself, "just try to relax." When he felt that he had calmed down, Lee Jordan continued on his way to Gryffindor Tower - wherever the entrance to it is. He took brief, medium-sized strides as his choice of walking, and did so for half the way through Hogwarts. He took a moving ascending staircase in a room full of other moving stairs and walked into a wall that was pretending to be solid, where on the other side, Lee found himself in a hallway spotted with doors and animated portraits. He then walked for Merlin knew how long until he bumped into something with a_ thud, _causing him to land backwards on the seat of his pants.

"Ouch," Lee winced as the impact started to hurt.

A voice apologized, "Oops, I'm sorry. I didn't notice you there." Lee shook his head when he saw a hand extended towards him. "Here, let me help you up." Lee offered the unknown person's help and gave his own hand. Both hands made a connection and it helped Lee get back up on his feet. He withdrew his hand to dust off his robes and turned to thank the person who helped him when his eyes started to widen with surprise.

"Dean Thomas!" Lee gasped.

Seamus's African friend from Gryffindor grinned from ear to ear while adjusting his beanie. "Am I glad to see _you_," he said excitedly, and both Gryffindors proceeded to briefly shake hands with each other. "So what brings you here?"

"Just finished delivering a parcel with something nasty inside to one of the staff as an errand." Dean winced this time, not wanting to know what was inside Lee's 'delivery'. "What about you?" Lee asked.

"On my way back to class," Dean shrugged absentmindedly. For a moment, one of Lee's brows arched until Dean asked, "Have you heard of Professor Snape?"

Lee Jordan thought about it before nodding. "Yeah. I heard that he's a git."

"And an overbearing, greasy one, too," Dean added with a wink. "You want me to tell you something about him?"

Lee hoped it wouldn't be something embarrassing like the one event he had heard where a DADA class had a boggart in the form of Prof. Snape 'riddikulused' into a dress and a feather-plumed hat. "Yeah." Noticing that they were surrounded, Dean took Lee by an arm and led him somewhere where snitching portraits wouldn't hear them. Once the two were in a safe spot, Dean looked around to see if anyone was coming and lowered his voice into a half-whisper:

"I was on the second floor in a hurry because I was late for one of my classes," Dean explained. "On my way, I heard a girl's voice talking to someone in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. I heard some names being mentioned, so I stuck around to listen for a bit."

"You mean you 'eavesdropped'," Lee corrected with a twinge of disgust.

Dean rolled his eyes and continued, "Anyway, I stayed and listened, but most of the stuff I heard about weren't really important. But the name's that were mentioned were 'Harry', 'Ron', and our enemy, 'Draco'. While I listened, I learned that they had been 'gone too long after lunch' and Snape was sent by Dumbledore to find them."

Lee's eyes started to widen. "Dumbledore? _Our_ Headmaster, Dumbledore?"

Dean nodded. "Yeah. And you know what else I heard?"

"What?"

"I heard that Harry, Ron, and Draco made it back to Hogwarts by themselves, but Snape didn't return with them. And another thing: Harry was talking to Snape, even though he disappeared toward the end of last year's term."

Lee stared at him strangely for a while before saying, "I've got to go now." Dean let him off, and Lee proceeded to go back the way he went. Looking back, he started to shiver. What he was told from Dean seemed to disturb him with questions: Why did Dumbledore send Snape to find Harry, Ron and Draco? How did they go back to Hogwarts by themselves? When did Snape disappear, and if anyone knew the answer, how _did_ he disappear? Where did Harry and his friend go during lunch at Hogwarts? Lee Jordan turned away and shook his head at those questions. It would be puzzling if he tried to answer those on his own without any clues, so he resolved to ask either Harry or Ron when he got back to Gryffindor Tower, or if he had a chance, Draco. But he hadn't seen that blasted Slytherin for a while now, so where else could he be?

Lee Jordan passed through the 'solid' wall and stopped halfway on the ascending staircase. Like any other staircase, it moved counterclockwise(some moved clockwise)and stopped halfway at a door. He took the chance to walk up the stairs and through the door, which he opened and left it that way, and found himself in a hallway that looked similar to the one where he bumped into Dean Thomas. But he couldn't help but notice that there were fewer portraits hung on the walls, and when he walked through it, he found its way was shorter than the other one. At the end of the hallway, he came across the Fat Lady's portrait, which hung with a few others connected to her. Remembering his last encounter, he covered his ears and waited for the worst to happen.

"Please don't sing," he pleaded to himself. But instead of horrible singing, a voice asked him:

"I'm not in the mood for singing."

Lee looked around for the source of the voice and seeing the Fat Lady looking at him, he uncovered his ears, breathing a sigh of relief. "Then what are you doing?" He asked.

"Can't a lady do anything while she's in her portrait?" The Fat Lady said indignantly. "I'm wonderingabout what _you_ were going to do right now."

"Um...," Lee hesitated. What _was _he going to do when he got here?Suddenly, he remembered. "Oh! I wanted to go to the Common Room!" he said.

The Fat Lady gave a nod of approval. "Well, that's the answer I was expecting from a Gryffindor like you," she replied, making Lee turn a bit red. "What's the password?"

"Scabbers?" Lee guessed without thinking. To his surprise, the Fat Lady's portrait swung aside, revealing a tunnel large enough for anyone to walk in. Mentally patting himself on the back for his sense of luck, Lee walked into the tunnel and the entrance was closed behind when the Fat Lady's portrait swung to hide it. Lee had been hoping that Hermione was still there, helping either Harry or Ron catch up with their missing work. When he found the door slightly ajar, he was about to walk into the Common Room when he started to hear voices. Looking through the thin crack, he saw not Hermione and a large pile of books, but Harry and an unfamiliar ghost, and judging by their movements they were talking.

"...No, that's not it, Professor Snape."

"_Then why do you always stay here?_"

"I don't know."

"_Is that the kind of answer you would give to a teacher, or anyone you meet?_"

"No, sir."

"_Then, why?_"

"Must you always know what I'm doing?"

There was a scoff that sounded like a snort, and then, "_What if you hurt yourself, purposely or accidentaly,_ _and your father didn't know about it?_"

"My father is a great man, and he would help me if he saw me, you sodding git!"

Lee half expected the ghost to get angry and scold Harry, but surprisingly the ghost was calm and said, "_Language, Potter, or you're going to get your mouth scrubbed with soap._"

"I don't care! Why would you want to know why I stayed here?"

"_Because I heard from McGonagall that you were missing classes that you were supposed to attend._"

Harry crossed his arms. "Fine, since you want to know anyways..."

"_I'm listening, Potter._"

"Well, after you died and I got back with Ron and Draco, a lot of people asked me how did we end up unharmed(with the exception of Ron, who got sick afterwards)and what happened to you. Also, Ron kept voicing his opinion that you were being a complete prat to me and him and Hermione because I look like my dad; Ron because whenever we got together, you'd think we'll cause trouble like his twin brothers; Hermione because she kept raising her hand and wouldn't shut up."

"_Is that why you shut yourself up in the Dormintory when McGonagall thinks you should be attending classes?_"

"Yeah."

Lee Jordan stood there, dumbstruck of the conversation he had just heard. He was about to lean in closer to hear more when he tripped, and his balance gave away, causing him to fall through the door. Harry and Snape stopped talking and turned to see Lee land on the floor with a thud and an "Oof!" He put one of his hands on the floor and used it as a support when he found Snape looking at him momentarily before he swept through Harry, who was running toward him, and he was gone.

Harry knelt beside Lee, asking, "Are you alright?"

"Sure, I am," Lee winced as Harry proceeded to help him get up and dust his robes. Lee shook his head for a moment to ease the pain from the impact, and looked at his friend's green eyes.

"I haven't seen you for quite a while," Harry said. "What are you doing here?"

"I was looking for Hermione so I can help her," he replied. "Have you seen her anywhere?" Harry looked around the Common Room for a trace of the Gryffindor girl before turning back to Lee, shaking his head.

"No. I saw her for a moment while on my way to the Dormintory," came the answer, "but when I came back here to look for her, she must've left for class because I heard the bell ring..." Lee nodded, and that was when Harry noticed something suspicious. "Did you see him?"

Lee snapped out of it and looked at Harry again. "What?"

"Did you see him?"

"Who's _him_?"

"Snape," Harry referred to the ghost he was talking to earlier. "Did you see him?"

Lee shook his head. "No. Why?"

"When you fell through the door," Harry explained, "it startled both of us quite a bit, and before I went to help you, I saw you focused on someone else."

"No, I didn't see Snape," Lee lied, causing his friend to raise a brow behind his glasses. "What makes you think I saw him?" Harry, silenced by his friend's question, turned away and let out a small sigh. Lee noticed that Harry seemed to be hiding something from him, but he didn't know what. Saying, "I'm going to get my things.", Lee ran up the spiral stairs that led to the dormitories where the boys slept during the night, and once inside, he closed the door behind him and leaned against it, eventually sliding down to the floor.

"I can't believe I lied to my best friend," Lee Jordan murmured to himself as a single tear coursed down his brown cheek, feeling guilty of what he had done to Harry. Yes, he had seen Snape when he fell, and when he was asked about it he covered the truth with a single lie. But the other thing that Lee had done was that he eavesdropped on a conversation that Harry had that he wasn't supposed to listen; but he learned something that could change Hogwarts forever: Snape had died. "What am I going to say when Harry asks me?" Lee asked himself. "What if he found out that I heard him talking to Snape?"

Lee Jordan knew worse, but he didn't want to think about it, not even now. He bended his knees closer and he rested his head on them and in his arms, and he started to sob quietly with his dreadlocks hanging over his face like a curtain, hiding his tears of guilt. Somewhere, unknown to Lee, in the dormintory, an ethereal form of Snape looked at him as he sobbed. Through his shoulder-length hair, a barely noticable smirk appeared, and Snape was gone.


End file.
